fusty

Adjective

fusty (comparative fustier, superlative fustiest)

1. Moldy or musty.
2. Stale-smelling or stuffy.
   • I rather vvonder vvhat Charms a VVoman of any Spirit can fancy in a Nunnery, in vvatching, vvorking, praying, and ſometimes, I am afraid, vviſhing for other Company than that of an old fuſty Friar— […]1732 June 11 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Henry Fielding, The Old Debauchees. A Comedy. […], London: […] J. W[atts a]nd sold by J. Roberts […], published 1732, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page...
   • All up the hills that hem the city in, these houses swarm; and the mites inside were lolling out of the windows, and drying their ragged clothes on poles, and crawling in and out at the doors, and coming out to pant and gasp upon the pavement, and creeping in and out among huge piles and bales of...1846, Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy, London: […] Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC
3. (broadly, figuratively) Old-fashioned, refusing to change or update.
   • In contrast to exploitation or suppression or even alienation, involution is presented as part of the natural order of things—like bad weather. You can’t point fingers at an abstraction or rally against a fusty term from an anthropology text.2021 May 14, Yi-Ling Liu, “China’s “Involuted” Generation”, in The New Yorker
   • An anonymously sourced report by one of Britain’s freewheeling tabloid newspapers has sparked a debate over both tabloid journalistic ethics and sexism in Parliament, leading some to question whether the institution is capable of shedding its fusty reputation and becoming an inclusive workplace.2022 April 26, Stephen Castle, Megan Specia, “U.K. Tabloid Accuses Lawmaker of ‘Basic Instinct’ Move, Highlighting Sexism in Parliament”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms:

   oldfangled, outdated, anachronistic, antediluvial, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, archaic, backward, backwards

4. Tasting of the cask.
   • Now consider what happens when that flavor is not fresh lemon but scorched garlic or some fusty wine. Unpleasant flavors are distributed at the same molecular level as good ones.2015, Susan Volland, Mastering Sauces […] , W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN
   • Alison had a mouthful of warm, rather fusty wine and lay back on the grass, cupping the back of her head in her hand.2018, Caroline Kington, A Tangled Summer, Eye & Lightning Books, →ISBN